Tulane Volleyball Receives Votes In Preseason AVCA Top 25 Poll

Green Wave garner 21 votes to sit 35th among 48 teams appearing on two or more ballots

NEW ORLEANS - With less than two weeks remaining before the season opener, the Tulane University volleyball team garnered some national attention as the Green Wave received 21 votes in the 2009 AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll, the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced Tuesday.

The Tulane team sits 35th among the 48 teams to appear on two or more ballots and are one of two teams from Conference USA to make the list as Rice claimed a trio of votes in the preseason poll. In addition, the Green Wave were one of two teams from the state of Louisiana to claim votes as LSU earned 19 votes to sit two spots behind Tulane.

"I think a lot of it is based on what we've done over the last three years," first-year Tulane head volleyball coach Sinisa Momic said. "We had pretty good records each of those years and have built a bit of a reputation. Even with losing so many people and changes to the coaching staff to some extent, they're still voting for us. That shows they're expecting the same thing from us that we are expecting from us, and that is to stay a good, strong program.

"Now, it's up to us to keep this team - even though we have new players and we'll be playing in a new system - to put it all together and prove to everyone that we belong there and that we're going to stay a long time among the elite teams in the country."

The Green Wave will have several opportunities to prove the preseason prognosticators correct, and even move up in the polls, throughout the 2009 season as the schedule is peppered with teams both ranked and receiving votes.

Tulane begins the year on Aug. 28 with preseason No. 10 Illinois in the opening contest of the Bluejay Invitational in Omaha, Neb., and will face No. 3 Nebraska one week later at the Tiger Invitational in Baton Rouge, La. In the third week of the season, the Wave will face preseason No. 23 Long Beach State on Sept. 12 in day two of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Classic at Fogelman Arena.

In addition, Tulane has five more matches against teams receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Top 25. The Green Wave will battle LSU on the road on Sept. 5 and at home on Sept. 11, Rice in Houston on Oct. 4 and at home on Nov. 6, and Arizona - which received 18 votes in the preseason poll - on Sept. 19 in day one of the Arizona Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.

While the good news rolled in for the Green Wave, practice continued as the team held another double session on Tuesday at the Reily Student Recreation Center. The Tulane squad held a conditioning session and worked on ball control in the morning before working individual sessions based on position and moving on to some six-on-six work in the afternoon. Momic said he was pleased with some aspects of the Green Wave's game so far, but was quick to point out that there is they have a long way to go to get prepared for the first match of 2009.

"Our outsides will carry a load and they have been doing it every day in practice," Momic said. "But we need to focus our offense more on our middles. We tried to do that today and it was on and off. That's our focus now and it will stay our focus throughout the season. We need to rely on our first-tempo offense, not just on the outside."

Season tickets for the 2009 Tulane volleyball season are currently on sale through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at a cost of $55 for adults and $35 for youths. In addition, all Tulane faculty and staff may purchase tickets for half price.

Tickets may be purchase in person on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr., Center, over the phone at (504) 861-WAVE (9283), or online at www.TulaneGreenWave.com. Single-match tickets will go on sale beginning Aug. 24 at a cost of $6 for adults and $4 for youths. The Tulane Athletics Ticket Office also offers a five-match pack for $20, and each fan can pick any five matches they wish to attend. In addition, single-match tickets can also be purchase on the date of competition at Fogelman Arena.

QUOTES FOLLOWING TUESDAY'S DOUBLE-SESSION PRACTICES

HEAD COACH SINISA MOMIC

On Tulane receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Top 25
"I think a lot of it is based on what we've done over the last three years. We had pretty good records each of those years and have built a bit of a reputation. Even with losing so many people and changes to the coaching staff to some extent, they're still voting for us. That shows they're expecting the same thing from us that we are expecting from us, and that is to stay a good strong program. Now, it's up to us to keep this team - even though we have new players and we'll be playing in a new system - to put it all together and prove to everyone that we belong there and that we're going to stay a long time among the elite teams in the country."

On today's double-session practices
"We did a lot today. We had a conditioning session this morning and worked on ball control. In the afternoon, we did individual sessions based on position and then switched to six-on-six. Obviously, we're still not where I want us to be. A lot of things need to gel and that will take time. I'm happy with some things and there are some things we still need to improve on."

On one of the positives he sees in his team so far
"Our outsides will carry a load and they have been doing it every day in practice. But we need to focus our offense more on our middles. We tried to do that today and it was on and off. That's our focus now and it will stay our focus throughout the season. We need to rely on our first-tempo offense, not just on the outside."

SENIOR SETTER RACHEL LINDELOW

On Tulane receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Top 25
"It doesn't really surprise me. We did lose a lot of players, but I truly believe that our program has established itself over the last couple of years to get 21 votes in the preseason poll. I'm happy with that and I feel confident that we'll surpass it. We definitely have the opportunity to add to it in those first couple of weeks of the season once we prove ourselves."

On how practice has gone so far
"We feel pretty good. Some of the new players are still a little sore. They're not quite used to this level of intensity and this amount of hours in a gym in a day. But we're slowly coming along. We're starting to work on line-ups and I think that's getting everyone excited. They know games are coming up. They know school is about to start. We're about to kick this thing into full gear."